GAR photos preserved for history

LYNN ? They are fading with age but 1,243 photographs of Civil War veterans hanging in a downtown museum have been preserved with digital technology and organized for research as part of a half year-long effort that ends this month.Grand Army of the Republic curator Robert Matthias said the Greater Lynn Photographic Association finishes the preservation project on May 12. Beginning last fall, Association members started using a preservation process called digitization to catalog 1,243 portraits of Civil War veterans hanging on the walls in the Andrew Street building’s ceremonial hall.?They have devoted many volunteer hours,” Matthias said.Association member David Kourtz, in a statement, said converting the portraits to digital images allows the original photographs to continue hanging in the GAR while digital images of the veterans are preserved for research.?Now over 100 years old, these images, and the history they represent for the nation, are deteriorating,” Kourtz said.Built in 1885 for Union Army veterans, the Grand Army building’s 56-foot by 46-foot main hall is outfitted with furnishing and ceremonial devices used by GAR veterans. Owned by the city, the building is open for school tours and researchers and is one of the stops on the annual Civil War encampment highlighting Lynn’s history during the war.Local historians have also worked to preserve the 150 copper-engraved portraits of Lynn residents killed in World War I. The building’s basement room is devoted to local Spanish-American War and World War I history.